Spain

LaLiga president Javier Tebas has said the organisation which oversees the top two divisions of Spanish club football has delayed talks over its next set of international broadcast rights amid the uncertainty caused by Catalonia’s proposed split from Spain.

Chinese private equity firm Orient Hontai has struck a deal to acquire a majority stake in Imagina, the parent company of Spanish agency Mediapro.

Movistar Plus, the pay-television platform of Spanish telecommunications group Telefónica, has agreed a multi-season extension to its rights deal for North American basketball league the NBA.

Spanish public-service broadcaster TVE’s aggressive move to acquire all Spanish national team matches at the end of last month is evidence the country’s advertising market recovering from its 2013 low.

The NBA’s blockbuster deal with e-commerce firm Rakuten in Japan will soon be followed by new deals in Spain with Telefónica and Poland with NC Plus, TV Sports Markets understands.

Clubs in LaLiga, the top division of Spanish football, benefitted from a €388.7m ($463.2m) rise in revenue distributed from broadcast rights sales during the 2016-17 season, demonstrating the benefits of the switch to a centralised selling model.

Spanish public-service broadcaster TVE has retained its rights to the national football team’s qualifying games for major tournaments under a new deal with European governing body Uefa.

The ProLiga association, which represents football clubs in Spain’s third-tier Segunda División B and fourth-tier Tercera División competitions, has agreed a deal with Mallorca-based production company Fibwi to launch a new television channel.

Spanish cable television operator Telecable has said it will close its OTT platform Tedi.tv after failing to secure football rights for the 2017-18 season.

European pay-television group Sky has reported a six per cent fall in operating profit due to the increased costs of rights to football’s English Premier League, while it has outlined plans to launch a “simple and affordable” OTT platform in Spain.

A joint venture between the Mediapro agency and pay-television broadcaster beIN Sports has been confirmed as the exclusive rights-holder in Spain for the Uefa Champions League and Europa League club football competitions.

Spanish agency Mediapro has hailed its latest court victory against media company Prisa in the so-called ‘football war’ over rights to LaLiga, the top division of the domestic game.

Strong competition was the primary reason for the value of Champions League and Europa League rights in Spain increasing by about 77 per cent late last month.

The Vodafone España division of the telecommunications company has launched a new esports channel on digital platform Twitch.

The Mediapro agency and beIN Media Group have retained their hold on the rights to the Uefa Champions League club football competition in Spain, according to multiple reports.

The Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y La Competencia (CNMC), Spain’s competition regulator, has hit LaLiga, the organising body of Spanish club football, with a €250,000 ($280,000) fine after upholding a complaint lodged by commercial broadcaster Mediaset.